Another Fort Hood Shooting

According to a senior Department of Homeland Security official, there is no link to terrorism. The official characterized it as a “soldier on soldier” incident.

While I realize it is certainly possible that terrorism might not be behind this incident couldn’t Major Hassan’s attack nearly five years ago have been described as a “soldier on soldier” incident? In that instance, 12 soldiers to be exact.

I realize that there is a lot we don’t know about tonight’s events. But what I do know is that our military bases aren’t safe for the men and women who have volunteered to defend this country. Let’s not forget about the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard last September that claimed the lives of a dozen civilian employees and contractors. It certainly doesn’t help that our soldiers have been unarmed at Fort Hood five years ago. Sadly, history repeats itself.

UPDATE: President Obama has issued a statement concerning tonight’s Fort Hood shooting. It reads in part:

I want to assure all of us that we are going to get to bottom of what happened. Any shooting is troubling. Obviously, this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago. We know these familes, we know the service to their country and the sacrifices that they make.

I wish I could be reassured by his words. But my confidence isn’t inspired given how the Obama Administration got to the bottom of things with the first Fort Hood shooting.

It’s hard for to take Obama seriously where it concerns his remarks about the families of the first Fort Hood shooting when these families have been denied benefits and Purple Hearts because the Obama Administration considers what happened nearly five years ago an act of workplace violence, not an act of terrorism.

I do realize it’s possible that tonight’s shooting might not be an act of terrorism. Yet under the circumstances, it is difficult not to think of what happened almost five years ago and how the Obama Administration still refuses to acknowledge what caused it.

UPDATE II: A press conference was conducted at Fort Hood by Lieutenant General Mark A. Milley. He indicated that four people were killed (including the shooter who died of a self-inflicted gunshot) and sixteen were injured. All of the dead and wounded were military personnel.

Lt. General Milley did not identify the shooter, but indicated that he had been transferred to Fort Hood in February 2014 from another military base in Texas. The shooter had served in Iraq for four months in 2011. He apparently sustained a traumatic brain injury, but the injury did not occur while he was in Iraq. He disclosed that the shooter had been receiving treatment for depression and anxiety and was “undergoing a diagnosis process for PTSD.”

The shooter was armed with a .45 caliber Smith & Wesson and at one point had fired the weapon while driving a vehicle. He took his life after being confronted by a female law enforcement officer.

While Lt. General Milley said there were no indications of terrorism, he stressed that it was not being ruled out.

A separate press conference by the medical personnel at Baylor, Scott & White Memorial Hospital. Three of the wounded are in critical condition.